Our recent vacation out west took us from San Francisco to Seattle for the second half of our trip. With some luck and planning, our stay in the Emerald City happened the same time as the Fremont Oktoberfest - a 3 day beer festival in the northern part of town. As part of the event, the final day also featured a morning beerrun called the Brew Ha-Ha 5k that finished at the entrance to the Oktoberfest beer gardens.
Having struggled with knee pain the previous week during our stay in San Francisco, I had very low expectations of myself the morning of the 5k. My run just 48 hours earlier had gone well but it was relatively slower than normal with a few tiny breaks to sight-see. This was to be my first competitive 5k run in years as I normally run longer distance events or triathlons now. We got to bed relatively early the night before, around 10 PM after our first day in Seattle but the forecast for race day was chilly and wet. I did get in a good dinner that night at Ivar's Acres of Clams seafood on the waterfront and we grabbed a simple breakfast from a Starbuck's coffee van on our way to Fremont by bus in the rain. Being new to riding city buses, we got on the wrong bus initially headed the wrong direction but eventually ended up correcting our mistake and still making it to Fremont early with plenty of time to relax. I have to say that Michelle was particularly awesome and supportive with what could have been a very frustrating morning. She is the best race support ever!
The weather did clear before the race so the run went off in the dry. The air temperature was also up so shorts and a tee was all I needed for the race. Since it was just a 5k and I wasn't too serious about it before our trip, I didn't map the course or the terrain but it ended up being the flattest course I have ever run! The race started and headed what felt like east up about a 3/4 mile incline before turning and running along Lake Union before circling back along the bike path to town. From mile 1 or so to the finish was nearly flat and by mile 2 checkpoint, I changed my pace from a polite jog to a hard run and when I closed in on mile 3, I was sprinting. I crossed the finish line at a full sprint and my knees felt fantastic. The cool, wet air normally causes me more pain but today, I felt great and I hadn't even had a beer yet. My 5k time was 23:25 and good enough for 83rd overall out of 829 finishers, 24 of 139 in my division and 64 of 375 males. I missed beating my adult PR for the 5k of 23:06 by :19 seconds. If only I had known the course was so flat, I would have easily made up those additional :19 seconds in the first 2 miles. Considering the pain I had been through in the previous two weeks, I was more than satisfied with my run and now it was time for some beer!
After crossing the finish line, we headed into the village beer garden for me to have a pint before moving into the larger festival for ticket holders that opened at 11 AM. We had a fantastic time once we got in and I have to say I really like the way the folks do it on the west coast.The festival was run a lot like the New Belgium Brewing Clips of Faith event we had just attended back home in Raleigh. That is, you buy tokens for beers and each token is $1.50 and gets you about 4 oz of beer from whatever brewery tap you choose. The process makes you pay more attention to what you are trying and to put some thought into your selections. Since the festival is open all day, there is no time limit or need to drink fast. It was a much more laid back and responsible atmosphere than I am used to back home with the beer festivals being all you can drink for a 3-5 hour period. While North Carolina certainly has lots of craft beer and breweries that match anything we tried in Seattle, they could learn a lot from the way a beer festival is run out west.
Besides loving craft beer, Seattle also proved during our stay to be a city that loves dogs. Everywhere we went, people had their dogs and included them in their daily activities. At parks, at shops, at outdoor restaurants and even at the Fremont Oktoberfest, our four legged friends were everywhere. The Sunday we attended was not only 5k beerrun day, it was also Dogtoberfest and there were dogs everywhere enjoying the festival.
Following our day at Oktoberfest, we finished our vacation with several more wonderful days in Seattle and enjoyed some fine beers, great food, beautiful scenery and met up with some awesome people. It was a fine end to a wonderful vacation.
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